Computing systems may include a variety of hardware and software products available from various suppliers. Often products made by a single supplier integrate or interoperate effectively in a computing system. However, integration difficulties may arise in computing systems that include products from different suppliers.
The problem of integrating a variety of hardware and software products from different suppliers becomes increasingly challenging with larger and more complex computing systems. Moreover, as more suppliers enter the market with new computing system products, the problems of integration increase further. More specifically, even if some of the products used to implement a computing system can be integrated with each other, the computing system may still fail to operate properly if other products in the system cannot be integrated. Consequently, each time that a computing system is implemented with products from various suppliers, testing must usually be performed to ensure the integration of all products in the system.